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Gender and The Unwritten Rules of Korean Alcohol Advertisements

Prompted by my recent post on an advertisement selling soju to women, which I misinterpreted the details if not the spirit of (no pun intended) because I was too lazy to translate the voiceover first, I’ll be using Korean sources as much as possible in my analyses of Korean advertisements from now on. Unfortunately, judging by its absence in bookstores and its website not being updated, then the only specialist magazine on offline Korean advertising I used to use for that – Korea Ad Times (코리아애드타임즈) – folded back in March, and Korean-language internet sources (on any subject) are notorious for their vacuousness and poor quality writing.

ThisMaeil Economy (MK) report that I’ve translated below is no exception, and as I pay much more attention to what readers might actually find interesting these days than I did a year ago, when admittedly I used to post just about any tabloid trash I’d translated, then normally I’d reject posting this. But – lest that honesty put you off reading further – I did still learn a couple of things from this one, especially from the last paragraph:

소주광고의 법칙…모델은 만 18세이상의 여자: 포스터 우측 하단에 소주병

The Rules of Soju Advertisements: models have to be over 18, and there has to be a soju bottle in the lower right corner of the poster.

The first is that female models that enjoy the highest popularity are hired. Currently, Ha Ji-won models for Chamisul (James: taking over from Son Dam-bi above), Shin Min-a for Jinro, Lee Hyori for Lotte’s “Like the first time,” and Baek Ji-young for Bohae’s yipsejoo.

As 70 per cent of soju drinkers are men, primarily in their twenties and thirties, then female models are preferred, and popular female entertainers always get the best response from this group. Also, soju companies demand a clean a pure image be emphasized in advertisements. Finally, the alcohol content of soju is going down. For all these reasons, women are used in soju advertisements.

하지만 최근 저도주 경쟁에 따라 남성을 모델로 기용하는 사례도 찾아볼 수 있다.

However, as there is increasingly a market for weaker soju drinks, then you can increasingly find male models being used.

For Daesun’s “Spring Spring” brand of soju, at 16.7 per cent the weakest soju on the domestic market, Gang Dong-won was used to target female consumers in their twenties (source). He was the first choice of 1000 female university students that were used to help develop the brand by participating in a survey on how they found its taste.

An industry insider explained that “recently soju drinks with lower alcohol contents have been released in order to attract female consumers, and accordingly we are changing the convention that only women should be used in soju advertisements.”

That soju glasses have to be held in the right hand without fail is another unwritten rule of soju advertisements, as in Korea it is impolite to a person offering the alcohol to receive it in left hand, even if one is left-handed. Also, on soju advertisements the soju bottle itself must be standing, as it is a symbol of the company, and if it is leaning then similarly the fortunes of the company will decline. Finally, if the model is not holding the bottle but it is standing in the bottom-right corner, then it does not detract from the advertisement’s sense of atmosphere.

There are many exceptions to the above rules of course, but now that I’m aware of them, then a quick survey shows that the vast majority of soju advertisements do indeed follow those conventions. Needless to say though, while most advertisements are not as explicit as the opening one for in this “bokboonja” (복분자) here, the use of a bottle as a phallic symbol is by far the most important consideration in virtually any drink advertisement, and it’s difficult to take seriously any analysis of one that doesn’t mention that. Nor one that wouldn’t mention what the shape below is supposed to represent either, which I was interested to learn is called a “yonic” symbol:

And speaking of women, while I won’t give this subject the attention it deserves here (perhaps next week), also interesting is that I’ve noticed that it is alcohol advertisements targeted towards women that are more likely to break those conventions, which by no means apply only to soju. A good example is this one below (more here) for Jinro’s “maehwasu” (매화수) drink with 14 per cent alcohol, clearly targeted exclusively at women, and one wonders at the logic behind both the flowers and pastel colors and Jinro’s belief that such a vastly different marketing approach was warranted. More often than not these are more indicative of advertisers’ stereotypes and prejudices than any empirical evidence that gendered advertising actually works, at least in the case of broadly similar products marketed to both sexes (cosmetics are possibly one exception though).

On a final note, I can’t resist mention of the maehwasu website, for what do you find literally popping up and extending in the bottom left corner of the screen when you visit, to the obvious delight of the three women next to it? It would be interesting to listen to a company representative or advertiser try to explain a non-sexual reason for that particular exception to the rules…

10 thoughts on “Gender and The Unwritten Rules of Korean Alcohol Advertisements”

another great piece…maybe u should point out also that it seems the world over, that when women are used, its always in an explicitly ‘sexual appeal’ manner, whilst when men are used targeting women consumers, its only in a non-sexual way more of a ‘cute looking’ appeal such as the examples u;ve given above…very interesting…

Thanks, but…well, I don’t really think that that needs pointing out, nor have any particular problem with it, as men generally liking female body parts and explicit sexual appeal and so on, and women generally liking more subtle things, like evidence of wealth and so on, is part of the human condition. Not that the former isn’t done to excess in advertising though, and that what are usually very culture and time-specific notions of what is “natural” in any way renders that excess acceptable.

-When is a bottle just a bottle however…?
On another note, I understand why I get funny looks drinking MaeWhaSul. I never thought it was a women’s drink. Here in Gangwon, seems women are QUITE happy to get drunk on soju. Maybe not the same amount, but they certainly keep up.

Granted, there is always a danger of overanalysis, and if soju bottles are almost always in the bottom right corner of soju ads then advertisers might not spend all that much thought on them when making an ad!

Having said that, based on what I’ve read, the testimony of people I know who’ve worked in advertising, and just basic common sense, then there is absolutely nothing left to chance in advertisements and commercials, which usually require many many more hours of filming and/or hundreds of photos than what makes the final product. Sorry if that sounds obvious: I’m just saying, a bottle can indeed be just a bottle, but if they’re relevant to the product and can be worked into the ad somehow (no crass pun intended), then long and thin objects will invariably be prominently displayed in advertisements, no matter how supposedly asexual the ad is.

I’d probably like Maehwasul as well BTW, provided that it is indeed sweet? Got to taste better than paint-stripper soju anyway…

You translated the above as “… to be over 18…” So then models must be 19? Or, does “만 18세이상” mean “at least 18″ indicating that an 18-year-old model would be acceptable? I’m not trying to bag on you. It’s an honest question.

Second, the original Korean mentions “…여자” which leads me to believe that these are ‘general practices’ rather than steadfast rules (or even laws) because there are, as you state yourself, male Soju models.

“At least 18″ would have been more accurate sorry. And 18 “Western age” that is too, just in case anyone is confused by East Asian age systems often add one year to their Western age.

And yes, that they are “general practices” is better too, but I think that “unwritten rules” is close enough, and both sounds and looks better as a title. The original Korean actually just says “법칙,” or “a law, a rule.”

I’m not sure if there are laws which state that models of either sex have to be at least 18 to appear in an alcohol advertisement, but I’d be very surprised if they weren’t. I do know that they have to be at least 18 to appear nude at least, although I’ve yet to hear of anyone being prosecuted for breaking that law.

hi! i discovered your blog while surfing the net. i am an unabashed fan of korean tv dramas(though it has waned a bit) . i want to ask you if alcohol drinking is really a part of korean culture. there is much too much drinking in korean dramas/movies, when they have problems(in their mind insurmountable) they resort to drinking capped by the heroine being carried piggybacked by the leading man . both white collared and blue collared workers seem to resort to drinking when they’re in a happy or sad mood. writers use drinking as deux de machina for things to happen in tv dramas or movies. you don’t see much drinking in u.s. tv dramas, or chinese. i am filipino and women getting drunk is frowned upon here.
a filipino married to a korean commented that soju drinking in korea is akin to drinking coke . it is so common place that soju bottles are strewn all over public places and beaches.

Getting drunk in public is generally quite socially acceptable, particularly for men. Unlike in the west and many other places, getting absolutely pissed is considered pretty normal. Drinking with the boss and coworkers is a semi-obligatory social activity that can take place several times a week, depending on your company and status within it. Of course there are abstainers, and a whole slew of tricks to avoid obligatory drinking (particularly for women) but there’s a social price to pay for NOT drinking. And as weird as this is to say, the drinking you see in dramas is not really far from reality. While bottles don’t bedeck all the streets and beaches and places all the time, drinking and getting drunk is very much part of Korean social interaction.